No shortcuts to success

Over the past few years I’ve been very fortunate to coach and train many aspiring poker professionals, just like you.

They come from all walks of life: from Poland to Sicily, from Los Angeles to New York. From the 18 year old who’s debating between college and poker, to the 40 year old with 2 kids who just wants to make a little extra on the side.

They have questions about the game, strategy and the life of a professional, but deep down, they all want to know one thing: can I really make it?

Day 2 of the European Poker Tour in Malta went as well as the first one.

Not only was it my birthday (which I celebrated with an incredible breakfast at the Intercontinental hotel, and again with dinner at a traditional Maltese restaurant), but I was given a gift early on in Day 2 that gave me the chip lead over the field…. again!

The first two hours were a true test of patience: I opened once and played zero flops.

That definitely wasn’t my game plan coming into the day (especially as the chip leader at the table), but to succeed at poker one must adjust to the circumstances in real time, even in the most extreme of conditions.

Aside from being pathetically card dead, the players were being far too aggressive. There was no need to get fancy, and I had plenty of chips to wait around for an excellent opportunity. Why settle for anything less when you don’t have to?

It’s never the hands you win that stick with you, but the ones you lose that haunt you the longest. Ego blinds us when we’re winning – I won because I deserve to is the underlying belief – and so it is only in losing that we are humbled to ask the questions that are necessary for improvement.